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12 - Allocare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2024

Jeremy Koster
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig
Brooke Scelza
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
Mary K. Shenk
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
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Summary

Human mothers commonly receive help from others to support their children, an unusual reproductive system known as cooperative breeding. Because cooperative breeding is not a trait shared with other great apes, its emergence in the human lineage marks a significant departure in reproduction and parenting, which has far-reaching consequences for the life history, sociality, and demographic success of our species. This chapter first defines cooperative breeding and establishes those characteristics that distinguish humans from other cooperative breeders. To unravel the evolutionary puzzle of cooperative breeding, the benefits of helping to mothers and offspring, why helpers help, who helps, and what helpers do are then reviewed. The discussion then turns to the question of why humans become cooperative breeders. Because humans provide food, shelter, and protection not just to infants but also to juveniles, humans expand the range of helping behaviors beyond those observed in other cooperative breeders, which has implications for many other aspects of sociality. Cooperative breeding has much to offer as a framework for conceptualizing the cooperative nature of humans and to explain our derived life history of early weaning, high fertility, and the long developmental period during which juveniles benefit from both receiving and giving help.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Allocare
  • Edited by Jeremy Koster, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Brooke Scelza, University of California, Los Angeles, Mary K. Shenk, Pennsylvania State University
  • Book: Human Behavioral Ecology
  • Online publication: 07 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108377911.013
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  • Allocare
  • Edited by Jeremy Koster, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Brooke Scelza, University of California, Los Angeles, Mary K. Shenk, Pennsylvania State University
  • Book: Human Behavioral Ecology
  • Online publication: 07 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108377911.013
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Allocare
  • Edited by Jeremy Koster, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Brooke Scelza, University of California, Los Angeles, Mary K. Shenk, Pennsylvania State University
  • Book: Human Behavioral Ecology
  • Online publication: 07 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108377911.013
Available formats
×